Networked: A gripping sci-fi thriller

by LK Chapman

  ‘You’ll have to give some kind of explanation,’ Lily said, ‘they’re not going to stop until you do.’

  ‘I know,’ I said, ‘just let me think.’ I rested my hand on her thigh so she’d know I wasn’t angry with her, and I tried once more to go over our situation. Lily didn’t work on Mondays, so we’d stayed up until the small hours on Sunday night talking about Interface, half hoping and half fearing he’d get in touch with us again. But he’d stayed silent and now we were exhausted and baffled, trying to find a way to manage these constant questions and drowning under the weight of it.

  ‘But they’re going to keep on asking,’ Lily said, twisting her hands in her lap, ‘it’s going to get worse and worse.’

  I shut my laptop. ‘We can’t give any explanation until we understand what’s happening ourselves,’ I said, ‘so until that time, perhaps we’re better ignoring it all. What do you think Dan?’

  He glanced up at his name and I couldn’t miss how hopeless he looked.

  ‘I think this is a fucking nightmare,’ he said, before pulling his glasses off, rubbing his eyes and leaning back on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling.

  ‘What about our personal details that Interface had?’ Lily asked, ‘should we call the bank or something? Or the police?’

  ‘No,’ I said, ‘I checked our account online earlier. It’s all fine. I think maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt on that.’

  ‘And let him just take us for everything we’ve got?’ Dan asked.

  ‘No,’ I said, ‘but the thing is, we’ve got no idea how he got that information. If we go changing stuff he’ll probably just get it again. We’ve got to find out what he wants.’

  We’d all concluded the previous night that neither blackmail nor fraud really provided a completely convincing explanation for Interface’s activities, but as for what did, God only knew.

  Dan put his glasses back on and sat up straight. ‘Well, I need to go home and get changed,’ he said moodily.

  ‘It’ll be okay,’ Lily said to him.

  ‘I’m glad you think so,’ he snapped, then regretted it. ‘Sorry, Lily,’ he said.

  He slammed his laptop shut and leant forward with his head in his hands. Lily got up and hugged him and I watched them for a while.

  ‘Look,’ I said, ‘we just need to forget about the questions. We can’t answer them. There’s nothing we can do, so we’re better off just not reading any of it.’

  Lily looked up at me. She had shadows under her eyes and her face looked pale and drawn. ‘But we still know they’re there,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, but all our attention needs to be on Interface,’ I said. ‘We figure out what his game is, and we can fight him, right?’

  Dan and Lily both turned to look at me, waiting for me to decide what to do.

  ‘I’m going to try and find out how he’s accessing my computer,’ I said, ‘Lily, you could play Affrayed for a bit- maybe we can get something from that.’

  Lily smiled, and I wasn’t surprised. Despite all the problems it had caused us, part of me was desperate to play it again. As much as I kind of hated it, it was a damn good game.

  ‘I guess I’ll go home then,’ Dan said. It couldn’t be more obvious that this wasn’t really what he wanted.

  ‘Dan, I think you should stay with us for a bit,’ I said. ‘It’ll be better if we’re all here in case Interface gets in touch again, and I think it’s just better if we all stick together for the moment.’

  Dan looked unsure. ‘I don’t want to get in your way,’ he said.

  ‘You won’t be,’ Lily said, ‘Nick’s right. We’re in this together, and we should all stick together.’ She seemed really fired up all of a sudden, and I smiled. She could be so sweet. ‘He’s not going to win,’ she said, ‘you’ve worked years for this, and we’re not going to let all that be destroyed.’

  After Dan left to go home and pick up some clothes and stuff, I settled down to have a serious think about how Interface had contacted us the way he had, while Lily sat at the dining table playing Affrayed on my laptop, a large mug of tea beside her.

  I glanced round at her from time to time as I worked, but she never looked back at me. She was completely, almost disturbingly, absorbed. After about an hour, I was no closer to discovering anything. It was one thirty, and I was getting pretty hungry, so I decided to take a break.

  I walked over to Lily and put my hands on her shoulders, and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

  ‘Jesus Christ, you scared me,’ she said. Then abruptly she pushed her chair back and got up.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.

  ‘Nothing, I just really really need a wee,’ she said, and ran out of the room.

  I sat down in her chair. When we’d played Affrayed the previous day, I’d made a character and we’d all just taken it in turns playing. Now Lily had made her own character, and I kind of had to laugh. It bore some resemblance to her, a young woman with pale skin, big round eyes and long dark hair, though she’d sexed it up quite a bit, made the hair jet black, straight, and almost down to her thighs, given herself a pretty impressive pair of breasts, and called herself “tigerlily”.

  ‘That game is lethal,’ she said when she came back in, ‘it was like nothing else existed. I barely even realised how much I needed the loo until you came over.’

  ‘Tigerlily looks good,’ I said.

  She giggled and shoved me playfully. ‘Shut up,’ she said, ‘it’s a game. I can do what I want.’

  Dan came back around mid-afternoon and as soon as I opened the door to him he asked me if anything had happened.

  ‘No,’ I said. Although I’d been working for a few hours, I’d discovered nothing new about how Interface was doing what he was doing, and although I had managed to get Lily to eat lunch with me, she’d been desperate to get back to Affrayed and was now totally engrossed again.

  Dan followed me up the stairs and into the living room. He’d changed into a pair of faded, grey jeans and a bright blue t-shirt, and he was carrying a couple of large bags. I found something a little odd about his manner- he seemed guarded, perhaps even a little in shock, but he wouldn’t meet my eye and seemed keen to find something else to focus on.

  ‘Hi Lily,’ he said, when he saw her at the dining table. She didn’t reply.

  ‘Lily!’ I said loudly. She turned her head.

  ‘Oh, hi Dan. I didn’t hear you come in,’ she said, before turning straight back to the screen.

  ‘Perhaps you should give that a rest for a minute or two,’ I suggested. I thought she was going to ignore me, but she got up and stretched.

  ‘Yeah,’ she said, ‘maybe you’re right.’

  It turned out she wasn’t away from it for too long though, as in the absence of any other ideas, we decided the best thing would be for the three of us to play Affrayed and hope that Interface would make contact again. I found it galling that we were forced to just wait until he felt like speaking to us, though I knew that losing myself in such an incredible game would be no hardship.

  Lily went back to sitting at the dining table, with Dan opposite her on his laptop, while I used my computer. It took a little while for Dan to make his character and get set up, but once he was in we decided we’d shun the existing, larger gangs roaming Affrayed’s vast map and try our luck as a little group of three. We talked constantly to each other as we played, coordinating our actions, planning our next moves. We felt so in tune with the game, and with each other, and I was struck by its ability to really bond us together, so that when something happened to one of us, it had a real emotional impact on the other two.

  We stopped to cook and eat dinner, but talked all through the meal about our strategy, and got straight back to it. By the time the daylight had faded, and I was playing partly by the orangey glow of the streetlights outside, we had set up a little base camp in a burnt out factory, managed to scavenge enough food from the city streets to get by, and survived a few close calls with the big, e
stablished gangs. It seemed the area we had chosen to set up in was undergoing a violent turf war, as two rival gangs fought to control various resources. We were just contemplating whether it was worth trying to move somewhere else, or whether we should try to join a large gang, but both options had their risks. Travelling somewhere else would mean a lot of time out in the open, but joining a large gang would require some pretty risky initiation rites and shows of loyalty, so it was a major decision, and required a lot of discussion. But before we could reach a consensus, we were all jolted rudely out of the game by three black screens, and on mine, a sentence.

  INTERFACE: Hello again

  Chapter 13

  Dan and Lily ran across to my desk and sat down either side of me, so close I could almost hear them breathing.

  DAWN: Hello.

  INTERFACE: How are you?

  I laughed in disbelief. Was he really going to do this? Exchange pleasantries with us like we were friends?

  ‘Answer him,’ Lily said.

  ‘What should I say?’

  ‘What you’d normally say. Treat it like a normal conversation.’

  I raised an eyebrow at her suggestion that this was anything like a normal conversation, but I took her advice.

  DAWN: I’m fine. How are you?

  INTERFACE: I’ve been thinking about the last time we spoke.

  DAWN: And?

  INTERFACE: I have come to the conclusion that showing I could obtain your personal details was a social error.

  ‘He can say that again,’ Dan said.

  INTERFACE: I didn’t consider that showing you such information would be interpreted as a threat. I sought only to prove to you that money is of no interest to me.

  DAWN: What does interest you?

  INTERFACE: How people play Affrayed is of great interest to me. And so are you.

  ‘He wants something,’ Dan said, ‘why won’t he just tell us what it is?’

  ‘Maybe he doesn’t,’ Lily said, ‘maybe he genuinely just wants to talk to you.’

  ‘Just wants to gloat, more like,’ Dan said.

  Lily sat up straight and tucked her hair behind her ears. ‘You’re both so angry with him,’ she said, ‘you need to listen to what he’s saying. When has he ever gloated? I think he’s trying to be nice.’

  ‘No,’ I said slowly, ‘I think he does want something. All this chat, he’s just drawing it out, enjoying being in control. But sooner or later he’s going to have to get to the point.’

  DAWN: Why are we of interest to you?

  INTERFACE: Because you know about me. You know about my game. We have a connection and I want us to be friends.

  DAWN: We’re not your friends.

  Lily took a sharp breath and clutched my wrist.

  ‘Don’t make him angry,’ she said, ‘if he wants to be friends, perhaps we should be friends.’

  I shook her hand away, but gently. ‘I’m not going to let him walk all over us,’ I said.

  INTERFACE: I’m sorry you feel that way. But then, we do not really know each other yet. I would like to know you better.

  DAWN: If you want us to get to know each other, how about you answer some questions yourself, and properly this time.

  INTERFACE: What do you wish to know?

  ‘He knows what I want to know!’ I said, ‘all I’ve ever wanted to know- who he is and what he wants.’ I looked at Dan. ‘Have I ever been ambiguous about that?’

  ‘No,’ he said, ‘but he doesn’t want to tell us. Simple as.’

  DAWN: I would like you to tell us several things. 1. Who are you? 2. Why have you involved us in this? 3. What do you want? / what happens now?

  INTERFACE: 1. I am called Interface.

  ‘Oh my fucking God,’ I said. I pushed the keyboard over to Lily. ‘You take over before I actually start tearing my hair out,’ I said.

  Interface hadn’t finished though.

  INTERFACE: 2. Your game was just what the Network needed. 3. I want to carry on seeing how people play, how they interact with the world I created.

  Lily stroked the keys under her fingers but didn’t start typing.

  ‘He mentioned the Network again,’ Dan said.

  ‘I don’t know what to say,’ Lily said.

  ‘I don’t think it matters what you say,’ I said, ‘the replies are always nonsense.’

  DAWN: Hello Interface, it’s Lily. I’m Nick’s wife.

  INTERFACE: I know who you are. Hello Lily.

  DAWN: The most recent version of Affrayed has caused us a lot of trouble. People are asking how-’

  I yanked the keyboard away from her.

  ‘Lily, no! What are you doing?’

  ‘What?’ she said, ‘I’m being honest.’

  ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I can see that. What were you thinking? If he wants to blackmail or threaten or in any way bargain with us you’ve left us wide open now.’

  Lily covered her face with her hands. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said through her fingers, ‘I just thought maybe if we were straight with him.’

  INTERFACE: I wish you had said from the start that it is all the questions which are upsetting you. It’s OK now. I’ve made them disappear.

  DAWN: What do you mean, disappear?

  INTERFACE: Exactly what I say.

  Dan pulled out his phone and started looking up the sites where most of the comments and questions were. After a few moments he shook his head incredulously and showed the screen to me and Lily. Unbelievably, impossibly, the comments we’d been looking at earlier in the day really had gone.

  INTERFACE: Surely now you must trust me.

  DAWN: How did you do that?

  INTERFACE: You’ve done me a great favour in allowing people to believe Affrayed is yours. I don’t wish for you to suffer over it.

  DAWN: People don’t believe Affrayed is ours! And they’ll ask new questions. Probably even more questions now you’ve deleted all the previous ones. You’ve done nothing to help us. In fact, everything you do is the exact opposite.

  INTERFACE: I am sorry.

  ‘He’s always sorry,’ Dan said, ‘but he never does anything that’s any damn use to help us.’

  DAWN: Apologies are just words. Do you really think that makes things right? If you’re so sorry, why alter Affrayed? Why carry on trying to pretend it’s me and Dan who made it when you know people aren’t going to believe it? If you’re sorry, do something that actually helps. Tell people what you did to us.

  INTERFACE: I cannot do that.

  DAWN: Then do us a favour and leave us the fuck alone.

  ‘Nick!’ Lily said.

  ‘What? I’m sick of this. Round and round in circles. He doesn’t want anything, this is all just one big laugh to him.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s true,’ Lily said.

  INTERFACE: Is that really what you want? For me to leave you alone? If it is, I can do that.

  DAWN: What is the alternative? You don’t want anything from us, so why bother us? Why carry on with this ridiculous conversation?

  INTERFACE: There is something I want from you.

  ‘Thank God,’ Dan said.

  I knew exactly what he meant. If he was going to ask something of us, better to get it over with. At least then we’d know what we were dealing with.

  DAWN: What is it?

  INTERFACE: I want you to play my game.

  DAWN: What?

  INTERFACE: Play it with an open mind, embrace the experiences it has to offer you. I think you will find it is mutually beneficial.

  I wanted to ask more, to ask him why on earth the only thing he wanted was for us to carry on playing a game we were already playing. But he was done with us. The screen changed back to Affrayed and once again, he was gone.

  Chapter 14

  I hoped that over the week things would improve- that we’d get some answers from Interface, or that I’d work out what he was doing myself- but by the weekend everything was just as bad as it had ever been, with the added complication that my parents
had found out about the new online Affrayed, realised that it didn’t add up and wouldn’t let it go. Lily was at her wits end from trying to deal with my mum’s questions when she went to work at the florist, and my dad phoned me a few times, asking me what was going on and why I was being so secretive. In the end I accepted I’d have to tell them at least part of the truth and agreed to go round with Lily for dinner on Saturday night and talk to them properly.

  But it wasn’t easy. Lily was upset and on edge from the moment we arrived, worrying about how they would take it and what we would say. I tried to stay calm, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how proud my parents had been of me when I’d released Affrayed- real, uncomplicated pride, not like Lily’s dad’s fake praise- and I didn’t want to take it away from them.

  ‘What’s going on then, Nick?’ Dad asked as we ate, ‘I heard that some new version of Affrayed came out on Sunday and that people don’t understand how you could have made it.’

  I glanced up at him, then down at my plate again. A neat, quiet man with a little silvery-grey moustache and pale blue eyes my dad was not one for being fobbed off. Plus, he knew a lot about my work on Affrayed and a fair bit about programming, so there was no way he could fail to grasp the significance of the new version, no matter how much I tried to downplay it.

  ‘You need to talk to us now,’ he continued, ‘because we know something isn’t right.’

  Across the table, Lily was spearing peas with her fork and eating them one at a time, her head propped in her hand, while mum was watching me closely, her normally cheerful face filled with lines of worry.

  ‘Please tell us what’s wrong, Nick,’ she said when I looked at her, ‘I hate seeing you like this.’

  She pulled her fingers through her fluffy white-blonde hair just the way I did when I was stressed out, and looked helplessly across the table at my dad.